Nottingham Venues 24 to 25

The Rescue Rooms are located on Goldsmith St nearby Nottingham Trent University. The venue opened in 2003 and consists of two separate rooms, to the left is the bar area and the long thin gig room is on the right with a current capacity of 450. I have witnessed three gigs in total there.

On 05/07/08 we headed there for a local band showcase night. First on stage were Love Ends Disaster! who formed at Loughborough University who were followed by My Accident Captain. O Lovely Lie featuring siblings Gemma and Rich Upton were on next and created a fine wall of sound. The main band were Lo Ego who subsequently broke up later that year.

On 06/04/12 we went to see the legendary Flipper who shamefully prior to the gig had never appeared on my radar. They formed in the Californian punk scene in 1979 and like many bands they been through various break ups and different incarnations. They were unpopular in those early days as they played a version of slowed down punk in direct contrast to the speedier hardcore brand which was more prevalent at that time. They were touted as a major influence on Nirvana resulting in their former bassist Chris Novoselic playing with them in the 2000’s.

They were terrific live and the sludgiest band I have ever seen (in a good way!) and it reminded me of early Stooges material, I am just glad I got the chance to see them once in my lifetime. They were supported by local band Grey Hairs.

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Flipper. Image Credit Discogs

My first visit there on 24/08/06 was to see the Vines from Sydney, Australia. They formed in 1994 and I first picked up on them via their excellent debut album Highly Evolved. I have always quantified them in the garage rock category.

A couple of years earlier it had looked somewhat unlikely that the band would ever tour again because the lead singer Craig Nicholls had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Unexpectedly then this tour was announced so we grabbed a ticket for the sold-out gig.

They produced a superb set and they had five or six standout tracks with my favourite being ‘Outtatheway!’ with its crackling intro and gradually building crescendo, it is an archetypal sweaty mosh pit song and I naturally answered the call to arms in that regard!

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The Vines. Image Credit Fanpop

The touted support band was the View who the organisers rather cheekily moved to the next-door venue Stealth to play their set after the Vines had completed theirs. To continue on the cheek angle, they tried to additionally charge us but we blagged our way into the venue.  

Stealth was a rather soulless metallic nightclub with a tiny stage for the band, though in their defence they did play Billy Bragg’s ‘New England’ at immense volume, which sounded fresh as a daisy that night!

It was a very early tour for the Dundee boys and the first time I had witnessed them, and their chaotic stagecraft and indecipherable Scottish brogue was an interesting sight. They attracted a boisterous enthusiastic audience. It had been a long evening so we bailed about halfway through their set but vowed I would endeavour to catch them again at a yet unspecified later date, and I was true to that pledge!

Preston Venue 12 – Polytechnic Part 1

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) was founded in 1992 but derived from humbler beginnings. In 1828 the nattily titled Institution for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was established. Further iterations of Preston Polytechnic and Lancashire Polytechnic were in place prior to it becoming a fully-fledged university.

UCLAN has through a suite of unusual courses created a niche for itself and is now the 19th largest in the UK in in terms of numbers, many of them foreign students. In my lifetime the University has spread its tentacles far and wide across town in relation to outbuildings and student accommodation.

In the Preston/Lancashire Polytechnic era, a music venue was introduced. It was a decent venue with a capacity of perhaps about 600. Beyond the dancefloor were large wooden blocks for group seating in a similar style to the block layout at the rear of the Deaf Institute. Above that, there was a viewing balcony.

I attended one non-music event there when a friend who was employed by the Poly obtained complimentary tickets for a group of us for a hospitality comedy event. The main act on that night was a pre-famous Peter Kay.

My first gig was Teenage Fanclub on 14/01/92. This was the year after ‘Bandwagonesque’ was released and a couple of years before my fave album of theirs ‘Grand Prix’ saw the light of day.  There was a big group of us in attendance on a cold Tuesday night and after visiting the Lamb and Packet and the Variety we headed into the venue for a sold-out gig.

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Preston Poly looking somewhat dreary back in the day. Image Credit lep.co.uk

Dependant on which tome you perused at the time they had been touted as either the new Nirvana or the new Byrds. I would personally place them nearer the later categorisation with their West Coast sound and pleasing harmonies.

I watched the opening couple of tracks in the balcony before diving (not literally!) into the pit. The band did not seem fully engaged with them muttering after the first track ‘played a crap gig in Newcastle last night, hope we don’t do the same here’ which only served to dampen down expectations for the rest of the set!    

I have seen them several times since and enjoyed them but due to a couple of deliberate false starts and lukewarm set they were disappointing that first time.

In May 2000 I went to see Asian Dub Foundation who were a melting pot of crossover influences including rap, dub, ragga and rock. It was one of the most unenthusiastic crowds I have ever witnessed and despite the bands best efforts the gig failed to ignite.  

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Asian Dub Foundation. Image Credit Louder Than War.

In 1995, an upcoming band called Radiohead booked the venue. I think the tour was supporting the imminent release of their second album ‘The Bends’. They were supported by Marian.  

I didn’t know a lot of their stuff apart from the overplayed ‘Creep’ off their first album ‘Pablo Honey’. We watched the gig from the panoramic vantage of the balcony, and they were enjoyable, and Thom Yorke had a presence about him.

That said, I would not have predicted their stellar rise in the following couple of years and the fact that ‘The Bends’ and ‘OK Computer’ are periodically placed in pundits lists of Top 10 all-time albums!